{"id":270071,"date":"2018-09-07T11:12:26","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T09:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=270071"},"modified":"2018-09-07T11:12:26","modified_gmt":"2018-09-07T09:12:26","slug":"a-look-at-the-first-all-electric-mercedes-benz-suv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/270071\/a-look-at-the-first-all-electric-mercedes-benz-suv\/","title":{"rendered":"A look at the first all-electric Mercedes-Benz SUV"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mercedes-Benz has announced a line of electric cars called the Mercedes EQ.<\/p>\n

The company had intended to invest \u20ac10 billion ($11.5 billion) on the line, but the spending has since increased, Daimler AG chief executive officer Dieter Zetsche said in Stockholm.<\/p>\n

The first of them, the Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 4Matic, is an all-wheel-drive crossover SUV. It\u2019s Mercedes\u2019 answer to the all-electric I-Pace SUV that Jaguar just released and the electric e-Tron crossover from Audi, which will make its debut later this month in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

The EQC will also compete against BMW\u2019s upcoming electric iX3 small SUV, Porsche\u2019s all-electric Taycan, and Tesla\u2019s Model X SUV. Most of them start at roughly $70,000.<\/p>\n

The EQs, which stands for \u201celectric intelligence,\u201d aren\u2019t the first pure-electric cars from the Stuttgart, Germany-based automaker. Earlier this year, Mercedes discontinued the B250e, a small electric hatchback of sorts, because of lack of sales. The company also showed its EQ Silver Arrow concept just last week in Pebble Beach, Calif.<\/p>\n

But this athletic-looking four-door crossover seems much more relevant to the ever-growing luxury electric SUV market that Tesla tapped and has everyone else playing catch-up. Even Porsche\u2019s new Taycan, technically a sedan, is aimed at eating away at Tesla founder Elon Musk\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n

The EQC 400 has a wide three-dimensional black-panel grille with seven different options of 21-inch bi-color wheels and torch-like daytime running headlights; the low shoulder-line has a coupe-like roof and simulated air inlets in high-gloss black that run along the sides.<\/p>\n

But it may look best at night: The EQC 400 has a \u201cLight Band\u201d LED strip that runs across the top of the front black panel grille and connects the headlamps to the grille, plus a light band in the rear that connects the tail lamps.<\/p>\n

Inside, louvered trim runs across the dashboard and the doors. It comes standard with a three-spoke sport steering wheel and seating for five in black microfibre. Leather seats and carbon-fibre trims are available as an option.<\/p>\n

A slide-open sunroof, heated seats, and regenerative braking come standard. It\u2019ll also have EQ-specific rose gold accents throughout the cabin, including on the air vents.<\/p>\n

The EQC 400 comes with a 80kWh battery. A dual-motor electric drivetrain drives each axle for a combined output of 402 horsepower and 564 pound-feet of immediate torque.<\/p>\n

Top speed is 112 mph (180 km\/h) with a sprint time to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds (0-100km\/h in 5.1 seconds). Both of those times are slightly slower than the I-Pace, though at 187.4 inches (476 cm) long, the EQC 400 is the longer of the two and likely the heavier.<\/p>\n

Total maximum driving range on the EQC 400 for the European version will be 279 miles (450 km), according to the 52-page press release Mercedes released for the occasion. (A company representative said figures for models destined for the US will remain unconfirmed until closer to market launch.)<\/p>\n

Forty minutes on a 110 kW outlet will get the vehicle to 80% of a full charge. This seems to be the standard level now for electric luxury SUVs, on par with the Jaguar and the Tesla Model X. The time to a full charge, and the time to charge on a regular household outlet, have yet to be released.<\/p>\n

Daimler plans to offer 10 pure-electric vehicles by 2022. The Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 4Matic arrives at US dealers in 2020.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Read: The new Mercedes-Benz A-Class \u2013 South African pricing<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mercedes-Benz has announced a line of electric cars called the Mercedes EQ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":270097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11119],"tags":[26,9130],"class_list":["post-270071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-headline","tag-mercedes-benz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270071"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270107,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270071\/revisions\/270107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}